Post-game show
by Minato's-weeping-angel
Summary: My first fanfic ever, so be kind! Reviews are appreciated. Tea and Duke interact after his and Yugi's Dungeon Dice Monsters duel. Rated T for fluff just to be safe. Ill always rate on the safe side :) Enjoy! Also, wasn't sure if it was considered anime or cartoon, so I just went with anime. Like I said, new to the site.


"I'm so proud of you Yugi!" she exclaimed embracing the young duelist as he returned to their small group of friends after his first ever Dungeon Dice Monsters duel with Duke. Tèa had been biting her fingernails the entire time. She knew Yugi was the top Duel Monsters champion in the world, but this new game had the whole gang a bit frightened. Yugi turned to embrace the other friends that had accompanied him to the tournament, Joey and Tristan, and they began to leave the arena. The cameras that had been filming the duel were turned off and the arena was quiet and dark. The door to the arena was just about to close behind her when Tèa heard a soft voice. She turned around to see Duke in the shadows of the arena, his obnoxious cheerleaders sent packing by his recent defeat. "Tèa," he called softly. "I'd like to have a word with you before you leave." "And why should I let you?" she said incredulously. "You challenged my best friend to a game he didn't even know how to play, one you yourself invented, and treat him like total shit the entire time. At least until he started kicking your ass at your own game. And didn't I hear you call me 'cheerleader-in-waiting or something along those lines? Why on earth should I listen to a thing you have to say?" She turned to go, shaking her head at the nerve of this arrogant boy to try and talk to her. Who cares if he had helped her last week in school. Who cares if he knows what she is going through at home with her family…her father…no. Who cares if he is trying to get closer to her, he challenged Yugi and that cannot be forgiven, especially with what he wagered. Yugi never playing Duel Monsters again? He was crazy. Cute…but..no he was absolutely insane. "Tèa please wait." There was something in the pleading of his voice that caused her to pause this time. "I'm sorry I did that to Yugi…I don't know what happened to me." She let the door close…and turned to face Duke. She leaned her back against the closed door and said, "Well I'm waiting." Duke took a deep breath and started twirling his dark hair, the way he always did, Tèa had noticed, when he was either overly confident or overly nervous. "I was so sure that Yugi had cheated in his duel with Pegasus. I lived for the approval and for the chance to work with that man. When he stopped communicating with me after his duel with Yugi, I blamed that kid for my life's work being in vain. Challenging him with everything on the line seemed like the only way to have my life be reconciled. So much time, so much work…I didn't know how to handle it. And I didn't know that I would be so drawn to you…" He began to walk towards her and Tèa held her breath. Don't let him do this, she thought to herself. He is just fooling you like all the other guys. He did not feel the same way about her there was no way. She hid it so perfectly at school, just like she hid everything else, but somehow it seemed that he saw right through her every time. Those piercing green eyes were more than she could bear. She looked away, staring at her shoes, drawing lines on the cold floor with her toe, trying not to think about how her pulse was racing at the notion of him being so close to her, so open, and their state of being completely alone in the dueling arena. "Tèa please listen to me. I couldn't have known how close you and Yugi are, I never meant to hurt you in any way. I actually care about what happens to you, unlike…him." At the thought of her father Tèa cringed, self consciously holding her arms closer to her body. Duke knew. Duke knew everything. He had found her one day, a few weeks ago, crying behind the school bleachers. He didn't know why but he came and sat beside her four hours, late into the night and they talked…and she cried…and her saw the bruises on her arms and legs, and the small red lines like cat scratched across the bruises. She blamed herself for it all. It was because of her failure in school that her father drank so much, because of their weight she was to bear that her mother had died in childbirth. Her disappearance to the dueling tournament at Dueling Kingdom was a way for her to run away from home, a reason to leave without having to lock her bedroom door every night. And Duke knew it all. She had spilled it all to him in her moment of weakness. Was he using this against her now? She gave him a fierce look. "NO. You're not him. No one is. Now stop bringing it up. I can handle this on my own without help from the likes of you." She turned around for the final time, intent on leaving for good. She wasn't going to let him have control over her. Right as she was about to take that step over the threshold of the door, Duke grabbed her arm and pulled her close. He spun her around into his arms, and planted a kiss on her lips. At first she was shocked, surprised and tried to pull away. She was tense and unsure, not familiar with his mouth. Then, as he refused to let her go, she gradually melded her mouth to his, allowing her lips to part slightly. He took this as an invitation and gently traced the inner line of her mouth with his tongue. Tèa relaxed and let him do so, kissing him back, opening her mouth wider, exploring his with her tongue. It was sweet and passionate and full of fire. This was not the kind of fire that destroyed or a fire that burned out quickly. This burned as a fire that smoldered. It never broke intensity, only gained momentum, and didn't show any signs of stopping. Duke was the one to break their kiss after a few moments. He looked into her eyes, that soft blue grey he had studied from afar and wanted so dearly to be near. She hid under a lock of her dark hair, and he pushed it behind her ears, exposing her delicate cheek. He cupped her face in his hand, and took her chin gently in his fingers, tilting her head up to force the meeting of their eyes. Duke's green eyes bored into her, she felt exposed, she felt vulnerable and for the first time in her life, she liked it. She liked the thought of being seen for who she was and everything she went through and not just Yugi Moto's friend, or that girl who hangs around Joy and Tristan. Duke looked into her soul when he looked into her eyes. She knew it, but so did he. He saw Tèa's every flaw, every perfection, and treasured it all. He kissed her one last time, short and sweet, leaving her breathless and wanting more. "Your friends will be worried about where you have gone." Tèa unknowlingly pouted, and Duke laughed. Not harshly or condescendingly as he may do with others. But a giggle, a reassuring sound that told her he didn't want to stop either. "You're right," Tèa sighed. She allowed his hand to fall from her face and took it lacing their fingers together. "Can I see you again?" Duke asked, unsure of what she would say after he was so forward with her. She nodded silently, rose up on her tiptoes, placed a kiss upon his cheek and ran out the door. Duke stood in the darkness of the dueling arena for a moment, puzzled by the strange sensations he felt. He did not want to play this girl the way he had with so many others. There was something different about her. Something unsettlingly different. He shrugged, just glad she agreed to se ehim again, and tried to banish the waryness that had crept into his mind. Maybe he wasn't alone in his dreams, maybe he didn't have to prove himself to every person around him. Maybe he could have a new goal and dream and that would be ok. He exited through the back door, and walked into the alley, heading home to try and collect his thoughts, anxious for the day he could see her again. Little did he realize that while Duke was gazing into her soul, Tèa had gazed right back into his. There was something different about him, not like the other boys that had constantly tried to take advantage of her, and definitely not like…anyway. She caught up to the gang, waiting outside the shop for her. "Where have you been, Tèa?" asked Yugi. "Yeah we thought maybe Duke had taken you prisoner as one of those overly enthusiastic cheerleaders. Then we remembered who we were talking about and let it go," Triston laughed. Joey let out a laugh too, "Yeah you're not exactly cheerleader material Tèa." "No, I guess I'm not," said Tèa thoughtfully. "But in any case, I'm just glad it's over and we can all go home. Want me to walk you?" asked Yugi hopefully? He smiled his best smile but Tèa seemed pensive. "No, I think I'll just go for a walk for awhile," she said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow at school." She walked away quietly, not looking at any of them, just staring off into space. The boys shrugged it off and went their separate ways. Tèa look a left, into the alley behind the shop, to try and make sense of her heart and head. The door to the shop that opened into the alley swung open and she expected to see Duke standing there. But it wasn't Duke. It was a figure in a suit, a dark man, and he grabbed her wrist. He covered her mouth with a cloth before she could struggle and carried her away into a van waiting on the street corner. The only person that saw this entire exchange was Duke, who had not been too far down the alleyway when she was taken. He ran after the van speeding away but it was too late. He was the only one around, and he was the only one who could save Tèa from whoever these people were. And on that street corner, he vowed to to do just that. For the girl that had looked into his soul and seen him for who he truly was, for the girl who he felt a need to protect, for the girl with the blue grey eyes. And he began to run.


End file.
